‘Dancing With the Stars’ ratings stumble; ‘Revolution’ holds up

Could “Dancing With the Stars” finally be losing its luster? Monday’s premiere of the long-running ABC competition series was down 32% from last year – and all this despite months of heavy promotion and an “all star” cast including Bristol Palin and Pamela Anderson.

It also finished well behind NBC’s younger-skewing “The Voice” in key demographics, but the news for “Dancing” wasn’t all bad: The show drew 14.6 million total viewers, versus 11.9 million for “The Voice,” easily making it Monday’s top entertainment draw.

It was also a good night for NBC’s scripted fare. NBC is betting heavily on “Revolution” to reverse the network’s ratings fortunes, and so far the investment seems to be paying off. Coming off a strong debut last week, the J.J. Abrams-produced post-apocalyptic drama attracted an estimated 9.3 million viewers Monday night.

Even though it was up against returning dramas “Castle” and “Hawaii Five-O,” which both had their season premieres Monday night, “Revolution” managed to retain an impressive 85% of its audience. It was also the leader among the coveted 18-49 age group in its 10 p.m. time slot. It’s quite a different story from a year ago, when NBC’s lackluster Monday night lineup included the low-rated “The Playboy Club” and “The Sing-Off.”

Without the benefit of “Two and a Half Men,” which moves to Thursday nights this season, CBS wound up in second place for the night. The network saw slightly lower but still strong premiere ratings for veteran comedies “How I Met Your Mother,” “Mike & Molly” and “2 Broke Girls.” Freshman sitcom “Partners” didn’t fare as well in its debut: The show drew just 6.5 million viewers, considerably less than its lead-in “HIMYM” (8.7 million) and its lead-out, “2 Broke Girls” (10 million).

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